Geography of the World: The Essential Family Guide to Geography and Culture Paperback – August 21, 2006

I bought this book because, despite my otherwise relative intelligence and sophistication, I used to refer to Africa as a "country" and I hadn't a clue where Belgium was. DUH. In fact, I would describe my knowledge of world geography as "sub-Palinesque". As I am likely to do some traveling in the near future I thought I had better at least brush up on my basic knowledge of the world, and in the process was lucky enough to buy this book out of many other choices. It is not so detailed as to boggle the mind (need I really know how many varieties of horned toads they have in Nicaragua?) and is also sufficiently illustrated as to be pleasing to the eyes. It's rather lovely, in fact. I recommend it heartily to anyone who wants a good general overview from which they will learn a lot about the world. Best of all, it not only covers basic geography, but tells you a little about the people and culture of these countries. Perfect! (I had no idea Legoland had its origins in Denmark! The book is full of tid-bits like this, so it makes learning fun.) I am glad I purchased a copy of this book; it was either that or I would've had to stoop to the good-natured humiliation of buying something like "Geography for Dummies". This book's textual tone is that of a friendly and breezy professor, neither stuffy nor academic to the point of snooze-inducing. Thanks to this book, this dummy's gettin' smarter every day. With any luck, I shall end up someday sipping fine wine in a gondola in Venice, Italy rather than cluelessly attempting to ride one down the canal of Venice, California!

I got this book to aid me in learning the countries of the world. This is perfect for that.The book is divided into continents, then regions, then countries. Each continent and region has a preface talking about major things in that area and cultures.What interests me most, is the information about individual countries. Each country has a picture of it within a zoomed in map, so you get an idea of the shape of the country. It has a quick facts section, that talks about size, population, religions, education, doctors, and how many TVs per-person (one way to gauge wealth). Then it has the main part for the country, where it talks a little about the culture, people, interesting facts, and sometimes a little history background.This works for me in learning countries, it is also going to be helpful when I hear of a country and want to know a little more about it.Also, it has lots of pictures and great page quality.

If you are looking for a great World Geography book that adds a little history explaining why a country or people are the way they are this is the book for you. I love the way the writer doesn't automatically assume you know what they are talking about. This book will give an explanation (sometimes in parenthesis) of what they are talking about. This book is organized well. If you just want to get some basic information you could go through the book just going over the main paragraphs and looking at the images. In other words there are degrees of how thorough you want to be reading it cover to cover. I'm 57 years old and read it all but if a reader just wants some basic information they can go through the book that way as well. If a reader needs information about a specific continent or country etc. you can do that as well. I got the latest updated version of the book. When reading this book just keep that in mind that that's the way things are up until the last time the book was updated. This book is great for the whole family and could be a GREAT help for school in geography and history classes.

I bought the hardcover version of this book as a gift for a teenager. After I thumbed through it, I bought the paperback version for myself. Why? Because its format, with maps, pictures, and easy readability, makes it interesting to pick up and look through, and a closed book is just a piece of wood. This makes a good "coffee table" book. It doesn't require reading all the way through to be interesting. On the other hand, it does have its drawbacks. Most countries are covered on one page, or one-half page, or only one-third of a page. With a large part of that taken up by those maps and pictures, the coverage is of necessity cursory. For example, it doesn't even mention that Mexico has states. (The full proper name is "Los Estados Unidos de Mexico" - "The United States of Mexico"). That is a fact that I learned only when I visited and toured three of the states. If you want in-depth information on a country, you must look elsewhere. And, as some have mentioned, some of the information is outdated, stereotyped, or of questionable relevance and importance. That is not to diminish the value of this book, though. There is a lot to be learned from it, and it provides a good general view of the world. Sometimes there is a great value in simplicity. Anyone who knew everything in this book would certainly be geography-savvy, and would know far more about the world than 99+% of the population.

I purchased this to supplement my online curriculum. It is more than expected. I will recommend my students purchase this.

I am not a teacher, however I purchased this book in order to supplement my child's education at home. I was quite impressed with the layout of this book and how it is organized. It is an easy text to follow and builds logically from one topic to the next which makes it easy for children to retain the information.

This is a very good book for people who want to start learning about geography. Has lots of pictures. I recommend buying a globe to make it even easier to remember the countries and …